Uganda MPs accuse president of South Sudan meddling

A group of seven Ugandan lawmakers on Wednesday accused President Yoweri Museveni of meddling in the escalating conflict in neighboring South Sudan. Fighting erupted December 15 in South Sudan between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels who have sided with his rival and former deputy Riek Machar. On December 20, Kampala deployed soldiers to South Sudan to evacuate stranded Ugandan nationals. The MPs objected to a warning by Museveni earlier this week for the rebels to stand down or face regional action. "This issue of President Museveni giving ultimatums to Machar is not good. This is a tribal fight and not a political matter that he should get involved in," Theodore Ssekikuubo told Agence France Presse. "Already Uganda has taken sides in the conflict and ceases to be neutral," said Ssekikuubo, who was recently expelled from the ruling party for opposing Museveni's policies. Kiir has accused Machar of attempting a coup d'etat but Machar has rejected that claim and accused the South Sudanese president of carrying out a purge of his rivals. "We support the evacuation mission but it has to be in line with our constitution ... and it should not be misunderstood to be a ploy to deploy in defense of one party," he added. The lawmakers also argued that even an evacuation mission needed parliamentary approval. "The president has to come to parliament and explain why we are in this conflict," said Abdu Katuntu, another MP who is shadow attorney general. "Museveni has sidestepped parliament and deployed troops without our mandate," he told AFP. Junior foreign minister Okello Oryem said the mission had been okayed by South Sudan's government and required no further approval. "The evacuation mission was authorized by President Kiir and our troops are there for that and nothing else". Ugandan troops have so far evacuated a total of 1,142 people -- mainly Ugandan nationals, but also including Ethiopians, Rwandans and Kenyans -- from South Sudan, airforce spokesman, Captain Tabaro Kiconco told AFP. Uganda's most recent airlifts have gone as far north as Malakal, the capital of oil-producing upper Nile, and Heglig, an oil-rich area on the South Sudan-Sudan border claimed by both Khartoum and Juba. Uganda, whose border lies less than 100 miles from Juba, is a major trading partner and labor provider for the world's newest state.